1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating apparatus such as a microwave oven, more particularly to a heating apparatus which is provided with a speech synthesizer and a microcomputer.
2. Prior Arts
Recently, on the market there have become available microwave ovens which are provided with a microcomputer and which can be actuated to select the most suitable heating sequence among several pre-programmed to memorized heating sequence programs during their heating operations. Generally speaking, in operating such microwave ovens the user can input data such as heating temperature, heating power output, heating time, etc. for storing heating sequence programs into memory devices by pushing several operation buttons with a predetermined order. By combining such button-pushing operations in complex ways, the user can put in comparatively complicated sequence programs in the heating operations. It is naturally advantageous that by use of much complex heating sequence programs, a wide variety of cooking methods can be employed by the users. However, there arise shortcomings that the user becomes bothered with complicated key operations and that she or he can not utilize full advantages of the heating apparatus equipped with the microcomputer.
In particular, it is necessary to confirm whether the user's key operation is correct by the displayed contents corresponding to the key input data, and therefore it takes much time to set the heating apparatus to the desired sequence program states. There is a high probability that the user erroneously inputs the sequence program data. This erroneous setting in the heating apparatus such as microwave ovens sometimes causes over-heating of the foods placed in the heating chamber, i.e. fatal cooking failure on the user side. In worst cases, such over-heating may cause burning of the user's hands and may set fire in the heating chamber. It is desirable to improve the conventional heating apparatuses in these aspects.
Semiconductor technology and information processing technology have developed to a degree that voice synthesizing is available by using one or a few LSI (large scale integrated circuit) chips. Such LSI chips can produce synthesized voices for a few minutes, and besides their costs have been lowered so that their use has become practical for several kinds of home appliances.